Shero

Black teacher and journalist, Mary Ann Shadd, was the first Black woman in North America to publish a newspaper and the first woman to study for a law degree at an American university. Born October 9, 1823 ...

“One day I know the struggle will change. There's got to be a change—not only for Mississippi, not only for the people in the United States, but people all over the world.” Fannie Lou Hamer was a civil...

Sanité Bélair (born Suzanne Bélair), was a Haitian freedom fighter and revolutionary. Sanité, whom Dessalines described as “a tigress,” is formally recognized by the Haitian Government as a National Her...

Frances E.W. Harper was a leading African-American poet and writer. She was also an ardent activist in the abolitionist and women's rights movements. Harper had a long and prolific career, publishing her first ...

Ruby Bridges was the first African-American child to attend an all-whyte public elementary school in the American South. Bridges was six years old and had to be escorted to class by her mother and U.S. marshals...

Mary Ellen Pleasant was a 19th-century African American entrepreneur who used her fortune to further the abolitionist movement. She worked on the Underground Railroad across many states and then helped bring it...

“My idea, my belief, my intention is for the United States of America to be known as a UNITED States,” Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson is an African American civil rights activist, who is perhaps best kno...

Perhaps best known as the widow of reggae legend Bob Marley and often called the "Queen of Reggae," Rita Marley has spent time and energy as the guardian of her late husband's estate and musical legacy, and, mo...

"One had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap.” Ida B. Wells (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931), was a crusading journalist and activist who led an anti-lynching...

“My name is Assata ("she who struggles") Olugbala ( "for the people" ) Shakur ("the thankful one"), and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of  government persecution, I was left with no other choice ...